"The  treatment 
accorded  to  Rus- 
sia by  her  sister 
nations  in  the 
months  to  come 
will  be  the  acid 
test  of  their  good 
will" 

— Pres.  Wilson. 


RUSSIAN 
SOVIETS 


Seventy -six  Questions 
and   Answers  on  the 
Workingman's  Govern- 
ment of  Russia 


People's  Council 

138  W.  mh  St., 

NEW    YORK  CITY 


10c  each,  or 
$5  for  100 


By 


Albert  Rhys  Williams 


LBERT  RHYS  WILLIAMS  was  a  war  corre- 


Claws  of  the  German  Eagle."  He  went  to  Rus- 
sia and  for  fifteen  months  lived  in  the  villages 
with  the  peasants,  in  the  Red  Army  with  the  sol- 
diers, and  in  the  industries  with  the  workers.  He 
knew  the  people,  as  well  as  Lenin,  Trotzky  and  all 
the  others.  His  travels  took  him  down  the 
"Mother"  Volga  and  through  the  beautiful  Ukraine 
on  the  Dneiper,  then  through  all  the  great  cities  of 
Russia  and  over  6,000  miles  of  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railway. 

He  addressed  the  soldiers  at  the  front,  the  great 
mass  meetings  of  the  People's  House  in  Petrograd, 
and  the  Cirque  Moderne,  and  the  sailors  of  the  Bal- 
tic Fleet—  When  the  Germans  began  the  drive  on 
Petrograd  he  organized  an  International  Legion  for 
the  defense  of  the  Red  Capitol.  In  the  Foreign 
Office  of  the  Soviet  Government  he  helped  prepare 
the  propaganda  which  was  sent  into  Germany  to 
stir  up  the  revolution. 

Some  of  his  experiences  Mr.  Williams  has  written 
for  the  "New  Republic,"  "The  Nation"  and  other 
journals.  After  his  addresses  in  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension,  in  New  York,  and  at  Ford  Hall,  in  Bos- 
ton, many  questions  were  raised.  Some  of  them  are 
briefly  answered  here. 


Belgium  and  author  of  "In  the 


Russian  Soviets 


THE  PRESENT  GOVERNMENT  OF  RUSSIA 

What  is  the  present  government  of  Russia? 

An  Industrial  Republic,  the  first  government  of  the  working 
class  in  the  world,  owned  by  the  workers  and  for  the  workers. 

When  was  it  established? 

Over  a  year  ago ;  to  be  exact,  November  7th,  1917. 

Where  is  the  capital  of  Russia? 

In  Moscow,  in  the  Kremlin. 

The  Kremlin  is  a  citadel  with  a  wonderful  collection  of 
churches,  graceful  towers,  green  and  golden  domes,  big 
bells  and  cannons  and  rich  treasures  of  art.  It  is  the 
pride  of  the  Russians.  They  say  "above  Moscow  lies  the 
Kremlin  and  above  the  Kremlin  lies  only  the  stars."  But 
now  above  the  Kremlin  flies  the  red  banners  of  the  new 
industrial  republic:  "Long  live  the  Union  of  Soldiers, 
Sailors,  Workingmen,  Peasants  and  toiling  Cossacks." 
"Hail  to  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Toilers  of  the  World." 

What  is  the  form  of  government  in  Russia? 

It  is  a  government  of  Soviets. 

How  is  a  Soviet  formed? 

Instead  of  electing  men  at  the  polls,  they  are  elected  in  the 
shops  and  unions.  For  example,  every  500  workers  in  a  muni- 
tion factory  select  a  delegate.  The  shoe  factory  elects  a  delegate, 
as  do  the  clothing  shops,  the  brick  yards,  glass  works,  and  all 
the  other  industries  which  happen  to  be  in  that  city.  The  differ- 
ent unions  do  likewise.  The  regiments  of  soldiers  and  the  sailors 
also  elect  their  delegates ;  likewise  the  teachers,  the  clerks,  and 
the  engineers  who  are  organized. 

Is  it  true  that  the  Soviets  do  not  allow  everyone  to  vote? 

It  is  true  at  the  present  time.  The  exploiters  of  labor,  idle 
people  living  off  interest,  members  of  the  Czar's  family,  criminals 

3 


and  the  insane  are  not  allowed  to  vote  in  Russia.  The  Soviet 
slogan  is  "A  vote  for  everyone  who  works."  Soon  everyone  in 
Russia  will  work  for  a  living  and  that  means  that  every  man 
and  woman  over  eighteen  years  of  age  will  have  the  right  to 
vote.  Even  at  present  95  per  cent  in  Russia  can  vote,  while  in 
the  United  States  only  about  65  per  cent  can  vote. 

How  many  Soviets  are  there? 

There  is  a  Soviet  in  every  city,  village,  district  and  county  in 
Russia. 

It  was  through  a  land  of  Soviets  that  the  Trans-Siber- 
ian express  had  brought  us  across  the  great  steel  bridges, 
the  Urals,  the  Taiga  and  the  steppes.  The  trainmen 
spoke  of  their  Soviet,  the  peasants  of  theirs,  the  miners 
had  cheered  us  in  the  name  of  theirs.  We  had  conferred 
with  the  Soviet  of  Central  Siberia  and  the  Far  East 
Soviet.  It  was  a  Soviet  world  through  which  we  had 
passed,  and  when  we  stepped  from  the  train  at  Vladi- 
vostok we  found  the  Soviet  there  an  exact  copy  of  the 
one  at  Petrograd,  seven  thousand  miles  away. 

There  is  nothing  more  remarkable  in  all  history  than 
the  fact  that  in  a  week  after  the  Revolution  one-sixth 
of  the  earth's  surface  should,  in  every  city  and  village, 
bring  forth  this  new  state  apparatus,  that  it  should  so 
manifest  its  worth,  strike  its  roots  deeper  and  deeper, 
crowd  out  all  rivals,  resist  the  shock  of  every  attack,  and 
after  15  months  hold  undisputed  sway  from  the  White 
Sea  on  the  North  to  the  Black  Sea  on  the  South,  from 
Petrograd  upon  the  Baltic  to  Vladivostok  on  the  Pacific. 

How  can  the  people  get  their  representative  in  the  Soviet  to 
do  what  they  wish  him  to  do? 

They  blow  the  factory  whistle  and  have  a  meeting;  or  the 
teachers*  association  or  union  meets  at  a  regular  session.  Then 
they  tell  their  representative  what  they  wish  of  him.  If  he 
doesn't  act  in  accordance  with  their  wishes,  they  elect  another. 
For  example,  in  Petrograd  in  July,  1917,  documents  were  pub- 
lished in  the  papers  saying  that  some  Bolsheviks  were  German 
agents.  Then  the  men  in  the  shops  immediately  recalled  the 
Bolsheviks  from  the  Soviet  and  put  in  Menshevik  delegates. 
Later,  when  the  workingmen  discovered  that  all  these  docu- 
ments were  lies  and  forgeries,  they  sent  back  their  old  Bolshevik 
delegates  and  hundreds  of  new  ones. 

This  is  the  government  of  the  towns,  but  what  is  the  govern- 
ment of  all  Russia? 


4 


Each  local  Soviet  elects  a  delegate  to  the  All-Russian  Assembly 
which  meets  about  every  three  months  at  Moscow.  Altogether 
there  are  about  1500  delegates. 

"The  delegates  come  from  the  Arctic  where  it  is  nearly 
always  cold,  and  from  the  Crimea,  where  it  is  nearly 
always  warm. 

There  were  fishermen  from  the  Lena  and  shepherds 
from  the  Caucasus.  There  were  Little  Russians,  merry- 
souled  chaps,  blue-eyed  and  fair-haired,  who  came  from 
a  land  where  the  sun  shines  much  and  the  earth  yields 
plentifully.  There  were  Big  Russians,  inured  to  hardship, 
their  sterner  struggle  with  the  soil  photographed  upon 
their  determined  faces.  Scattered  among  them  were 
fair-haired  Cossacks  from  the  Don  and  dark-skinned  Cos- 
sacks from  the  Urals,  with  a  strain  of  Tartar  marked  in 
the  slant  of  their  eye  and  the  color  of  their  skin.  Some- 
times it  was  an  Esthonian,  a  Pole,  a  Lett,  a  Lithuanian, 
or  a  member  of  one  of  the  numerous  Siberian  tribes.  All 
of  Russia  was  gathered  under  that  roof." — "The  Red 
Heart  of  Russia.,"  by  Bessie  Beatty. 

What  does  this  gathering  of  workmen,  peasants,  soldiers  and 
sailors  do  in  the  All-Russian  Assembly? 

It  decides  all  the  great  public  questions  like  war,  peace,  land, 
commerce,  etc.  When  it  adjourns,  it  leaves  behind  an  Executive 
Committee  of  about  250  members,  a  body  somewhat  like  our 
Congress. 

What  are  the  duties  of  the  Executive  Committee? 

It  passes  laws.  One  of  its  chief  duties  is  to  appoint,  dismiss, 
and  control  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars,  a  body  some- 
what like  our  Cabinet. 

What  is  the  difference  between  our  Cabinet  and  the  Council  of 
People's  Commissars? 

The  members  of  the  American  Cabinet  are  appointed  by  the 
President.  The  members  of  the  Russian  Council  of  People's 
Commissars  are  elected  by  the  people. 

What  are  the  salaries  of  the  Commissars  of  the  Soviet  gov- 
ernment? 

The  largest  salary  that  any  official  in  the  Soviet  government 
receives  is  600  roubles  a  month  ($60). 

Under  the  old  government  officials  were  paid  enormous 
salaries.  Most  of  them  received  as  much  in  a  week  as 
a  Soviet  official  now  receives  in  a  year.    The  Bolsheviks 


5 


said  that  the  pay  of  officials  of  a  workingman's  govern- 
ment should  not  be  more  than  that  of  an  average  work- 
ingman.  They  feared  the  gulf  that  must  arise  between 
well  paid  officials,  able  to  maintain  a  luxurious  standard 
of  living,  and  workingmen  receiving  only  a  living  wage. 
They  wished  to  avoid  the  creation  of  a  new  bureaucracy. 
Careerism  in  public  life  was  to  be  discouraged.  No  one 
can  have  cake  until  everyone  has  bread.  They  fixed  the 
pay  at  $60,  with  $10  extra  for  each  non-earning  member. 
Lenin's  wife  works  in  the  Department  of  Education, 
therefore  Lenin  receives  only  $60  a  month.  Trotzky  has  a 
wife  and  two  children,  therefore  he  gets  $90  a  month. 

When  the  Soviet  Government  moved  to  Moscow  it  took 
over  one  of  the  large  hotels,  the  National,  to  live  in.  The 
first  thing  it  did  was  to  abolish  expensive  and  elaborate 
menus.  The  meals,  instead  of  consisting  of  many  dishes, 
were  cut  down  to  two.  One  could  have  soup  and  meat, 
or  soup  and  kasha  (a  kind  of  porridge).  Of  course,  there 
was  tea. 

What  are  the  differences  between  the  Soviet  form  of  govern- 
ment and  the  parliamentary  form? 

(a)  A  Soviet  delegate  comes  from  a  group — a  shop  or  a  union, 
meeting  regularly.  It  has  a  natural  unity.  A  Congressman  rep- 
resents all  sorts  of  people,  irrespective  of  their  work,  who  meet 
at  the  polls  every  two  or  four  or  six  years ;  there  is  no  other 
bond  between  them. 

(b)  A  Soviet  representative  is  continuously  in  touch  with  the 
people  he  represents.  A  Congressman  has  no  natural  connection 
with  his  people. 

(c)  The  Soviets  are  elected  largely  by  occupations.  They 
are  full  of  miners  who  know  mines ;  machinists  who  know  ma- 
chines;  peasants  who  know  the  land;  teachers  who  know  chil- 
dren and  education. 

(d)  The  Soviet  is  a  center  for  the  translation  of  business  by 
men  who  know  their  business.  Parliament  is  too  often  a  talking- 
machine,  an  arena  for  playing  party  politics. 

WHAT  THE  SOVIETS  HAVE  DONE 

What  are  some  of  the  things  which  the  Soviet  Government 
has  accomplished? 

First — It  nationalized  all  the  natural  resources,  the  forests, 
mines,  waterways,  etc. 

Second — It  gave  all  the  land  to  the  peasants.    Each  family 


was  given  as  much  land  as  it  could  work.    This  has  made  the 
peasants  very  happy  and  glad  to  support  the  Soviet. 
Third — It  organized  a  great  Red  Army. 

Fourth— "It  swept  the  Secret  Treaties  into  the  ash  barrel  of 
history." 

Fifth— It  stirred  up  the  great  Revolution  in  Germany  and 
pulled  the  Kaiser  from  his  throne. 

Sixth— It  opened  up  thousands  of  schools,  libraries,  workmen's 
theatres,  newspapers  and  postoffices. 

Seventh— It  gave  the  factories,  shops  and  mines  to  the  work- 
ers. Some  of  them  were  owned  by  the  State;  others  came 
directly  under  workmen's  control. 

What  is  meant  by  workmen's  control? 

It  means  that  a  committee  elected  by  the  workmen  take  part 
in  the  management  of  the  plant. 

"I  mean  by  control,"  said  Trotzky,  "that  we  will  see  to  it 
that  the  factory  is  run  not  from  the  point  of  view  of  priv- 
ate profit,  but  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  social  wel- 
fare. .  .  .  For  example,  we  will  not  allow  the  capitalist 
to  shut  up  his  factory  in  order  to  starve  his  workmen  into 
submission,  or  because  it  is  not  yielding  him  a  profit. 
If  it  is  turning  out  economically  a  needed  product,  it 
must  be  kept  running.  If  the  capitalist  gives  it  up,  he 
will  lose  it  altogether,  for  a  board  of  directors  chosen 
by  the  workmen  will  be  put  in  charge. 

"Again,  'control'  implies  that  the  books  and  correspond- 
ence of  the  concern  will  be  open  to  the  public,  so  that 
henceforth  there  will  be  no  industrial  secrets.  If  this 
concern  hits  upon  a  better  process  or  device,  it  will  be 
given  to  other  concerns  in  the  same  branch  of  industry. 
Thus  the  public  will  promptly  realize  the  utmost  possible 
benefit  from  the  find." — From  an  interview  with  Trotzky 
by  Professor  E.  A.  Ross,  of  Wisconsin  University. 

When  the  workers  took  over  the  factories  and  mines,  didj 
they  not  make  many  mistakes? 

They  did.  Lack  of  experience  and  technical  skill  led  them 
to  many  blunders.  But  they  learned  quickly,  and  after  a  time 
many  factories  turned  out  more  products  than  before. 

As  soon  as  the  workmen  found  the  factories  really  in 
their  hands  there  came  a  change  in  their  minds.  Under 
the  Kerensky  regime  they  tended  to  elect  a  foreman 
who  would  let  them  do  as  they  pleased.  Under  their  own 
government,  the  Soviet,  they  began  to  elect  as  foreman 


7 


those  who  put  discipline  into  the  shop  and  raised  the 
production. 

In  the  so-called  "American  Works"  at  Vladivostok,  the 
wheels,  frames  and  brakes  of  cars  were  assembled,  and 
the  cars  sent  out  over  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  In 
the  Kerensky  regime  these  shops  were  hotbeds  of  trouble. 
The  6,000  workmen  on  the  payroll  were  turning  out  but 
18  cars  a  day. 

The  Soviet  Committee  closed  the  plant  down  and  put 
the  men  to  work  in  other  places.  Then  it  reorganized 
the  shops  and  started  up  with  a  force  of  1,800  men.  In  the 
underframe  section,  instead  of  1,400  there  were  350,  but 
by  means  of  short  cuts,  introduced  by  the  workers  them- 
selves, the  output  of  that  department  was  increased.  Al- 
together, the  1,800  men  on  the  new  payroll  were  turning 
out  12  cars  a  day, — an  efficiency  increase  of  more  than 
10  per  cent,  per  man. 

I  was  standing  with  the  Bolshevik  president  on  the 
hills,  overlooking  the  shops  below.  He  was  listening  to 
the  clank  of  the  cranes  and  the  stamp  of  the  trip  ham- 
mers ringing  up  from  the  valley. 

"That  seems  to  be  sweet  music  to  your  ears,"  I  said. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "the  old  revolutionists  used  to  make 
a  noise  with  bombs,  but  this  is  the  noise  of  the  new  revo- 
lutionists hammering  out  a  new  social  order." 

What  has  the  Soviet  done  to  give  good  houses  to  the  people? 

There  were  millions  of  people  in  Russia  living  in  poor,  dark 
rooms.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  thousands  of  palaces  and 
fine  homes  well  furnished  and  well  lighted  which  were  occupied 
by  but  a  few  people.  The  Soviets  said  this  is  all  wrong;  "You 
who  build  the  great  houses  should  live  in  them."  So  the  people 
moved  in.  Now  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  poor  people 
in  Russia  who,  for  the  first  time,  have  a  decent  place  to  live  in. 

What  has  the  Soviet  government  done  to  the  church  and! 
religion? 

It  gave  religion  the  same  freedom  it  has  in  America.  It  separ- 
ated the  church  from  the  State,  so  that  now  all  churches  are  on 
the  same  footing  in  Russia.  The  Catholic,  the  Protestant,  the 
Jew,  can  worship  as  he  pleases.  The  Soviets  have  made  the 
first  great  attempt  to  put  into  practice  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 
Jesus  wanted  a  social  order  where  every  man  would  get  a  fair 
chance ;  that  is  what  the  Soviet  is  doing. 

What  have  the  Soviets  done  for  the  women  of  Russia? 

Women  have  the  same  political,  economic  and  social  rights  as 


8 


men.  The  Bolshevik  Government  provides  free  care  for  women 
sixteen  weeks  before,  while,  and  after  they  become  mothers. 
If  they  go  back  to  work,  they  are  allowed  to  work  but  four 
hours  a  day.  Women  have  full  rights  over  their  property,  the 
right  of  divorce  the  same  as  men,  and  in  the  shops  are  on  the 
same  footing.  'Together  men  and  women  were  slaves,  now 
together  they  are  free." 

How  is  justice  administered  under  the  Soviets? 

Justice  is  very  simple  in  Russia  now.  The  old  laws  of  Russia 
were  very  bad  and  the  Soviet  Government  had  to  rebuild  the 
whole  thing.  In  the  meantime  a  revolutionary  tribunal  which 
hears  all  cases  was  established.  Sometimes  lawyers  are  not 
present  at  all,  but  the  people  defend  themselves,  and  their  friends 
come  forward  to  speak  for  them.  The  principle  of  right  and 
wrong  guides  the  tribunals,  legal  tricks  and  technicalities  are  out 
of  court. 

What  has  the  Soviet  done  for  amusements  in  Russia? 

Workmen  Theatres  have  been  established  in  hundreds  of 
places,  and  in  these  the  best  plays  are  given.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  workmen  who  are  actors.  The  People's  Theatre  in 
Petrograd  is  managed  by  the  wife  of  Maxim  Gorky.  There  is 
more  good  music  in  Russia  than  ever  before. 

Under  the  Soviet,  then,  is  there  great  happiness  in  Russia? 
Is  it  the  millenium  on  earth? 

There  is  much  cold  and  hunger  in  Russia  now  and  many  babies 
have  died  for  lack  of  milk,  in  Moscow  and  Petrograd.  The  rail- 
roads are  broken  down,  and  while  the  rest  of  Europe  has  peace 
the  workmen  and  peasants  of  Russia  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands must  go  out  to  fight  and  to  die.  But  they  do  not  blame  this 
upon  the  Soviets  but  upon  the  Allies  who  have  cut  off  the  food 
supply  of  Siberia. 

How  did  the  Soviet  show  its  interest  in  the  American  working 
class? 

It  held  thousands  of  meetings  to  protest  against  the  murder 
of  Mooney.  The  workingmen  of  Petrograd  went  to  the  Ameri- 
can Ambassador  and  told  him  Mooney  was  their  brother  and  that 
he  must  be  freed. 


9 


Did  the  Soviet  pass  any  laws  for  the  benefit  of  the  American 
working  class? 

A  great  many.  For  example :  the  Soviet  desired  to  import 
harvesters  and  other  machinery  from  America.  They  declared 
they  would  receive  no  machinery  from  America  which  was  not 
made  under  a  living  wage  in  an  8-hour  day,  with  no  night  work 
for  women,  etc.  No  machinery,  they  said,  would  be  allowed  in 
Russia  which  did  not  bear  the  O.  K.  of  committees  of  the  work- 
ingmen  where  the  articles  were  made. 

What  else  has  the  Soviet  done  for  which  all  America  should 
be  grateful? 

It  has  saved  hundreds  of  thousands  of  American  lives,  some 
say  500,000;  others  say  more. 

How  has  the  Soviet  saved  so  many  American  lives? 

Because  it  did  all  it  could  to  bring  about  the  great  revolution 
in  Germany  and  Austria  which,  in  turn,  suddenly  brought  about 
the  end  of  the  Great  War.  Our  military  experts  were  saying 
that  the  war  would  last  six  months  or  two  years  more,  and 
that  it  would  take  perhaps  a  million  American  lives  in  order  to 
get  to  the  Rhine.  The  Teuton  armies  were  way  down  upon 
the  soil  of  France  and  Belgium  and  Italy,  but  they  suddenly 
stopped  fighting.  Why?  Because  the  Revolution  started  back 
home. 

How  did  the  Russian  Soviet  make  the  Great  Revolutions  in 
Austria  and  Germany  which  helped  stop  the  war,  and  thus  saved 
the  lives  of  so  many  Americans? 

The  Soviet  sent  hundreds  of  agitators  into  Germany  and 
Austria  who  told  the  people  to  make  a  Revolution  as  they  had 
done  in  Russia.  The  Russian  Soviet  also  published  millions  of 
copies  of  papers  in  different  languages — German,  Hungarian, 
Czech,  Slovak,  etc.  These  papers  were  dropped  by  aeroplanes, 
blown  by  wind,  smuggled  in  boxes  and  carried  by  prisoners  into 
Germany. 

In  an  illustrated  paper  sent  over,  there  is  a  picture 
showing  a  workman  tearing  the  Imperial  eagles  off  the 
Palace,  and  below  the  crowd  is  making  a  bonfire  of  them. 
The  paper  explains  the  picture  to  the  Germans  in  these 
words : 


10 


"On  the  roof  of  a  palace  a  workingman  is  tearing  down 
the  hated  emblems  of  autocracy.  On  the  street  the 
people  are  burning  up  the  Imperial  eagles.  A  soldier  is 
telling  the  people  that  the  overthrow  of  autocracy  is  only 
the  first  step  on  the  way  to  the  Social  Revolution.  It  is 
very  easy  to  overthrow  the  Imperial  government,  Ger- 
man comrades.  It  rests  only  upon  those  blind  soldiers 
who  support  it  with  their  bayonets.  The  Russian  soldiers 
only  opened  their  eyes  and  the  Czar's  government  has 
disappeared.  When  will  the  soldiers  in  other  lands  ruled 
by  a  Kaiser  open  their  eyes?" 

Here  is  one  of  the  appeals  which  was  sent  out  to  the 
German  fleet: 

"The  Revolutionary  sailors  of  the  Baltic  Fleet,  in  con- 
ference assembled,  send  their  greetings  of  brotherhood 
to  their  heroic  German  comrades  who  have  taken  part 
in  the  insurrection  at  Kiel. 

"The  Russian  sailors  are  in  complete  possession  of 
their  battleships.  The  Sailors'  Committee  are  the  High 
Command.  The  yacht  of  the  former  Czar,  the  'Polar 
Star,'  is  now  the  headquarters  of  the  Fleet  Committee, 
which  is  composed  of  common  sailors,  one  from  each  ship. 

"Since  the  Revolution,  the  Russian  Fleet  is  as  busy  as 
formerly,  but  the  Russian  sailors  will  not  use  the  fleet 
to  fight  their  brothers  but  everywhere  to  fight  under  the 
Red  Flag  of  the  International  for  the  freedom  of  the 
proletariat  throughout  the  entire  world." 

Millions  of  roubles,  and  much  energy  of  Bolsheviks  like  Lenin 
and  Trotzky  were  spent  on  this  propaganda.  At  last  it  won  out. 
The  Great  Revolution  in  Germany  came  and  the  Great  War 
ended. 

What  do  Americans  think  about  the  Soviets? 

Nearly  all  Americans  who  have  been  to  any  Soviets  and  Know 
the  Bolsheviks  say  that  the  Soviet  Government  should  be  recog- 
nized by  America  as  the  real  government  of  Russia. 

"It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  us  to  believe  in  the 
Soviet.  .  .  .  The  Soviet  is  the  soul  of  Russia — and 
more  .  .  .  the  Soviet  has  become  its  communicating 
nervous  system  and  its  deciding  brain.   .   .  . 

"Let  us  abandon  every  word  of  unnecessary  criticism 
against  Russia.  It  is  a  Soviet  House.  If  the  Soviets 
choose  Lenin  to  rule  their  house,  it  is  their  house.  If 
they  choose  someone  else  to  rule  their  house,  it  is  their 
house. 


11 


".  .  .  It  is  a  republic  of  Soviets,  and  in  the  mouth 
of  every  American  the  word  Soviet  must  become  a  word 
of  friendship,  a  word  of  comradeship,  a  word  of  great 
hope." — Chicago  Daily  News. 

"Russia  is  a  government  of  the  workingmen  and  the 
soldiers,  of  the  peasants  and  the  mechanics.  It  is  a  de- 
mocracy which  is  striving  for  the  uplift  of  the  great 
masses.  It  is  a  democracy  which  comes  as  near  being 
representative  of  the  soil  as  it  would  be  possible  to  find 
anywhere.  It  has  mud  on  its  boots,  hair  on  its  face, 
and  the  love  of  freedom  in  its  heart.  They  say,  "the  Rus- 
sian democracy  is  red."  Yes,  full  of  good,  red  blood — 
you  will  find  it  isn't  yellow.  No  less  than  60  per  cent, 
of  the  Russians  are  Bolsheviks." — Colonel  W.  B.  Thomp- 
son. 

Are  Socialists  the  only  ones  who  believe  in  the  Soviets? 

No,  all  classes  of  Americans ;  Colonel  W.  B.  Thompson  of  Wall 
Street;  Colonel  Raymond  Robbins,  head  of  the  American  Red 
Cross,  who  knew  Lenin  and  Trotzky;  Major  Thatcher;  Bessie 
Beatty,  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin ;  Louise  Bryant,  of  the  Bell 
Syndicate ;  Madeline  Z.  Doty,  of  Harper's ;  Louis  Edgar  Brown, 
of  the  Chicago  Daily  News ;  Dr.  Charles  F.  Kunz ;  Jerome  Davis, 
acting  head  of  the  American  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  Russia;  John 
Reed,  of  the  Liberator,  and  scores  of  others. 

How  do  we  know  that  the  Soviet  is  the  Government  that  the 
people  of  Russia  want? 

It  is  the  only  Government  that  has  shown  any  strength,  and 
the  only  one  that  the  people  have  fought  for  and  died  for.  The 
last  Sunday  in  July  an  election  was  held  in  Vladivostok.  There 
were  17  tickets.  Everybody  said  the  contest  was  between  the 
Cadet  Party  and  the  Moderate  Socialist  block.  It  was  not  sup- 
posed that  the  Bolsheviks  could  cast  any  large  vote  because  their 
leaders  were  in  prison  and  their  papers  suppressed.  But  when 
the  votes  were  counted,  it  was  found  that  the  Cadets  had  4,000, 
the  Socialists  5,000,  and  the  Bolsheviks  12,000.  The  Bolsheviks 
got  more  votes  than  all  the  other  16  parties  put  together. 

If  the  people  of  Russia  want  a  Soviet  Government  have  we 
any  right  to  make  them  take  our  kind  of  Government? 

The  kind  of  a  Government  they  want  is  their  business.  If  at 
lie  point  of  the  bayonet  we  compel  them  to  take  our  kind  of 
Government  we  are  doing  the  same  thing  as  Imperial  Germany. 


12 


"The  people  of  Russia  intend  hereafter  to  own  Russia 
and  to  govern  Russia  in  their  own  interests.  In  Russia, 
practically  speaking,  there  is  no  middle  class  of  small 
property  owners,  business  men  and  landowners,  such  as  is 
characteristic  of  England,  France  and  the  United  States. 
Virtually  the  entire  population  of  Russia  consists  of  peas- 
ants and  industrial  workers.  That  is  the  reason  why  the 
government  of  the  Bolsheviki — the  majority — is  entirely 
made  up  of  representatives  of  these  workers." — Col.  Wm. 
B.  Thompson,  head  of  the  American  Red  Cross  Mission  in 
Russia. 

DIFFICULTIES  THE  SOVIETS  FACED 

Has  it  been  an  easy  task  for  the  Soviet  to  do  its  great  work? 

No ;  the  workingmen  have  had  tremendous  difficulties. 

First,  hundreds  of  years  of  the  rule  of  Czars  had  kept  the 
people  browbeaten,  poor  and  oppressed. 

Second,  three  years  and  seven  months  of  war  had  bled  the 
country  white.  3,500,000  Russians  had  been  killed,  4,000,000 
wounded,  there  were  350,000  war  orphans  and  200,000  deaf, 
dumb  and  blind.  The  Russians  lost  more  than  Belgium,  France, 
Italy  and  America  combined. 

Third,  the  railways  were  broken  down,  the  mines  had  been 
flooded,  the  food  and  fuel  were  nearly  gone. 

Fourth,  the  Czechs,  supported  by  the  Japanese,  French,  British 
and  Americans,  cut  off  their  grain  supply  from  Siberia.  The 
Germans  and  Austrians  cut  off  their  food  supply  from  the 
Ukraine. 

Fifth,  12,000,000  soldiers  were  suddenly  demobilized.  America 
has  only  4,000,000  soldiers,  and  yet  we  expect  to  take  a  year 
before  they  are  all  home  from  France  and  demobilized. 

Sixth,  they  were  sabotaged  by  the  old  officials,  and  deserted 
by  the  upper  classes,  boycotted  by  the  Allies  and  nearly  guillo- 
tined by  the  Germans. 

Are  the  difficulties  which  the  Russians  face  in  their  Revolution 
greater  than  America  faced  in  hers? 

Much  greater. 

(1)  In  the  American  Revolution  there  were  3,000,000  people. 
In  the  French  Revolution  there  were  23,000,000.  But  in  the 
Russian  Revolution  there  are  180,000,000  spread  over  a  country 
three  times  as  large  as  America. 


13 


(2)  The  French  Revolution  and  the  American  Revolution  were 
largely  political,  while  the  Russian  Revolution  is  political  and 
social. 

(3)  In  our  Revolution  the  foreign  countries  let  us  alone  or 
helped  us,  while  all  the  foreign  governments  today  are  fighting 
Russia. 

(4)  It  took  us  in  America  over  eight  years  before  we  settled 
down  to  a  firm,  stable  government.  The  Russians  have  had 
less  than  two  years. 

What  did  the  upper  classes  do  to  make  disorder  in  Russia? 

They  gave  huge  sums  of  money  to  the  old  officials,  and  to 
bank  clerks  to  stop  work.  They  said  that  the  workingmen  did 
not  have  brains  enough  to  run  things.  But  the  Soldiers  and 
Sailors  took  charge  of  the  banks  and  the  governmental  offices, 
themselves. 

How  else  did  the  upper  class  try  to  overthrow  the  Soviet  gov- 
ernment? 

(a)  They  hoped  to  starve  the  people  into  submission.  Roubin- 
sky,  a  great  capitalist,  said,  "the  bony  hand  of  hunger  will  clutch 
the  people  by  the  throat  and  bring  them  to  their  senses."  But 
the  Soviets  brought  in  food,  (b)  Then  the  upper  class  hoped 
that  bad  sewage  and  the  melting  snow  would  bring  cholera.  But 
the  Soviets  organized  sanitary  commissions  and  stopped  the 
epidemics,  (c)  Then  they  tried  to  get  the  people  in  the  cities 
drunk  in  order  that  they  should  go  out  to  loot,  burn  and  kill. 
This  was  called  a  wine-pogrom.  They  would  suddenly  open  up 
hidden  wine-cellars  and  give  everybody  all  the  wine  he  could 
drink.  The  Soviets  stopped  this  by  destroying  400  such  cellars 
and  pumping  the  wine  out  into  the  canals. 

How  else  did  the  upper  classes  try  to  overthrow  the  Soviets? 

They  went  away  to  the  far  parts  of  Russia  and  organized  mili- 
tary forces.  Large  armies  were  led  by  the  Czar's  generals 
against  the  workmen's  government. 

What  kind  of  soldiers  did  the  Soviets  have,  to  heat  off  its 
enemies  ? 

There  were  two  divisions:  (1)  the  Red  Army;  these  were  the. 
regular  soldiers  who  received  about  $30  a  month.  (2)  the  Red 
Guards ;  these  were  workingmen  in  the  factories  and  peasants 
on  the  farms.   When  danger  threatened,  they  left  their  ploughs 


14 


and  dropped  their  tools  and,  picking  up  their  guns,  went  out 
to  the  defense  of  their  government. 

Regiments  of  officers,  monarchists,  adventurers,  Khun- 
Khuz  bandits  and  Japanese  mercenaries  were  formed  in 
Manchuria  and  kept  attacking  the  frontiers  of  the  work- 
ingman's  republic. 

It  was  the  regular  division  of  the  Red  Army  that  bore 
the  brunt  of  these  raids.  As  soon  as  the  enemy  broke 
through  the  cry  of  "The  Socialist  Fatherland  is  in  dan- 
ger!" was  raised.  Into  every  village  and  factory  hurried 
the  call  to  arms.  Each  formed  its  little  group  of  Red 
Guards,  and  along  the  roads  and  pathways  they  marched 
up  into  the  Manchurian  Mountains,  singing  sometimes  a 
revolutionary  hymn  and  sometimes  folk  songs  of  the 
village.  Poorly  equipped  and  poorly  fed,  they  voluntarily 
advanced  to  pit  themselves  against  a  merciless  foe, 
splendidly  armed  and  trained. 

The  Red  Army  and  the  Red  Guard  showed  a  lack  of  the 
iron  discipline  of  the  regular  national  armies.  But  it  had 
a  spirit  which  the  others  lacked.  I  talked  much  with 
these  peasants  and  workers  who  for  weeks  had  been 
lying  out  on  the  hillsides  in  the  rain  and  the  cold.  "What 
made  you  come  and  what  keeps  you  here?"  I  asked. 
"Well, — millions  of  us  dark  people,"  they  replied,  "had  to 
go  out  and  die  for  the  government  of  the  Tsar  in  the  old 
days ;  surely  we  would  all  be  cowards  if  we  didn't  go  out 
and  fight  for  a  government  that  is  our  own." 

Was  the  Soviet  able  to  defeat  all  its  enemies? 

Every  one  of  them.  Not  a  single  member  of  any  of  these 
Anti-Soviet  governments  dared  set  his  foot  upon  Russian  or 
Siberian  soil.    If  he  had  done  so  he  would  have  been  locked  up. 

Who  are  the  enemies  of  the  Soviet  government? 

(a)  The  landlords,  who  want  to  take  the  land  away  from  the 
peasants,  (b)  The  capitalists,  who  want  to  take  the  factories 
and  banks  away  from  the  workingmen.  (c)  The  officers,  who 
want  to  take  control  of  the  army  away  from  the  soldiers,  (d) 
The  monarchists,  who  want  to  take  the  government  away  from 
the  people. 

But  they  could  do  nothing  against  the  workmen  of  Russia  until 
the  Allies  came  to  their  help. 

SIX  CHARGES  AGAINST  THE  SOVIET  GOVERNMENT 

I 

Has  the  Soviet  Government  of  Russia  killed  great  numbers  of 
officers,  the  landowners,  and  the  rich? 


15 


On  the  contrary,  very  few.  In  the  future  we  will  ask,  "How 
can  we  explain  that  in  a  Revolution  so  big  and  so  deep  such  a 
handful  were  killed?"  There  have  been  many  wild  tales  about 
the  number  of  victims.  But  no  one  says  that  there  were  more 
than  40,000  killed  in  the  first  year  of  the  Revolution ;  and  many 
of  these  were  Bolsheviks  who  were  killed  in  defending  the  Sov- 
iets against  unlawful  attacks.  Russia  has  a  population  of  180,- 
000,000;  that  means  that  in  this  civil  war  less  than  one  out  of 
every  4,000  people  in  Russia  was  killed.  In  the  first  year  of  the 
American  Civil  War  one  out  of  every  300  was  killed.  In  the 
South,  thousands  of  American  men  were  sacrificed  to  perpetuate 
slavery.  Russia  is  fighting,  not  to  perpetuate  injustice  and 
crime,  but  to  establish  freedom. 

Have  not  Marie  Spiridonova  and  Breshkovskaya  (Babushka), 
the  two  great  women  of  the  Revolution  been  killed  by  the 
Bolsheviks? 

The  newspapers  have  killed  them  several  times  in  order  to 
make  the  people  who  love  these  two  women  hate  the  Bolsheviks. 
But  both  are  living.  Marie  Spiridonova  is  now  working  with  the 
Bolsheviks. 

What  is  the  "Red  Terror"? 

It  means  that  whenever  anyone  is  caught  killing  a  member  of 
the  Soviet  Government,  or  trying  to  kill  a  member,  or  of  plotting 
to  overthrow  the  Soviet  Government,  he  is  arrested.  Then  he 
is  placed  on  trial  before  a  Revolutionary  Tribunal.  If  he  is  ad- 
judged guilty  he  is  imprisoned  or  executed.  If  found  innocent, 
he  is  promptly  released.  In  other  countries  we  would  call  this 
preserving  law  and  order. 

"The  terrorism  under  which  the  limited  property-own- 
ing class  is  living  is  slight  compared  with  the  terrorism 
in  which  the  workingman  and  peasant  lives  in  fear  of  the 
return  of  the  old  regime." — Colonel  W.  B.  Thompson, 
Chairman  of  the  American  Red  Cross  Mission  in  Russia. 

Why  then  are  the  papers  full  of  these  stories  of  loot  and) 
murder  and  massacre? 

Because  the  great  interests  are  making  a  poison  gas  attack 
against  the  Soviets  and  the  Bolsheviks. 

"What  is  the  source  of  the  lies  about  Russia  which  are 
so  systematically  disseminated  in  this  country?  A  couple 
of  weeks  ago  the  statement  was  published  on  the  front 


16 


pages  of  the  eastern  newspapers  that  on  November  10th 
the  Bolsheviki  were  to  indulge  in  a  general  massacre  of 
all  their  class  opponents.  But  what  actually  happened  on 
or  about  that  day?  The  following  dispatch  published  in 
the  New  York  World  may  give  some  idea.  'The  Soviet 
Council  in  Petrograd  has  adopted  a  resolution  giving 
amnesty  to  all  arrested  hostages  and  persons  alleged  to 
be  involved  in  plots  against  the  Soviets,  except  those 
whose  detention  is  deemed  necessary  as  a  guaranty  for 
the  security  of  the  Bolsheviki  who  have  fallen  into  enemy 
hands.'  Instead  of  a  St.  Bartholomew,  a  feast  of  recon- 
ciliation. The  lie  is  published  in  the  most  conspicuous 
parts  of  all  the  newspapers  in  the  country.  The  truth  is 
published  in  an  inconspicuous  part  of  one  newspaper. 
Is  the  case  against  the  Bolsheviki  so  weak  that  it  has  to 
be  sustained  by  lies?" — New  Republic,  November  16th. 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  Bolsheviks  wish  to  kill  the  upper  class? 

No ;  they  only  wish  to  set  them  to  work. 

II 

Has  not  the  Soviet  Government  made  general  chaos  and  dis- 
order in  Russia? 

On  the  contrary.  It  has  saved  the  country  from  these  evils. 
Correspondents  tell  us  that  the  streets  of  Moscow  and  Petro- 
grad are  as  safe,  if  not  safer,  to  walk  upon,  than  the  streets 
of  New  York  and  Chicago.  We  came  across  6,000  miles 
on  the  Trans-Siberian  railway  as  quietly  as  going  from 
New  York  to  Washington,  and  safer  than  in  Brooklyn.  Order 
was  asserting  itself  on  every  hand.  Then  Allied  intervention 
came  and  now  tens  of  thousands  of  people  have  been  killed  and 
wounded,  villages  burned,  tunnels  and  bridges  have  been  blown 
up,  fifty  miles  of  tracks  torn  up,  and  the  Omsk  Government  is 
reported  to  have  taken  1,714,000  bushels  of  wheat,  which  is 
needed  for  hungry  Russia,  and  is  turning  it  into  alcoholic  liquor 
to  make  the  people  drunk. 

Ill 

Has  not  the  Soviet  Government  refused  to  pay  the  national 
debt? 

It  is  true  they  originally  repudiated  that  debt  when  the  Allies 
did  not  come  to  their  help. 

17 


It  was  the  Czar  who  borrowed  the  money  from  France 
and  England  in  1906-10.  He  used  it  in  employing  a  big 
army  to  put  down  the  Russian  workingmen.  He  used 
it  to  send  300,000  men  and  women  and  children  into  the 
horrors  of  the  awful  Siberian  mines  and  prisons.  The 
Socialists  warned  the  bankers  of  France  not  to  give  the 
money  to  the  Czar.  Even  Milyukov  warned  them.  The 
Socialists  said  if  they  came  into  power  they  would  not 
pay  back  the  money  which  was  used  to  suppress,  to  jail 
and  to  kill  them,  and  so  they  did  exactly  what  they  said 
they  would  do.  But  even  rather  than  have  a  bloody  war 
over  the  debt,  the  Soviet  would  prefer  to  compromise  and 
have  since  offered  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  with  the 
Allies. 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  workmen's  Soviet  does  not  trust  the 
educated  and  upper  classes? 

They  have  lost  faith  in  the  so-called  "governing  classes." 
The  workers  and  peasants  say,  "We  used  to  toil  and  slave  and 
let  you  run  the  world.  But  what  kind  of  a  world  was  it  that 
you  made  ?  It  was  full  of  strife,  slums,  awful  poverty,  ending  in 
this  horrible  war.  If  you  are  not  criminals  you  are  terrible 
bunglers.  You  have  shown  yourselves  unfit  to  have  power  and 
we  do  not  intend  to  let  you  have  it.  True,  as  workingmen  we 
will  make  mistakes,  too.  But  we  prefer  to  suffer  from  our  own 
mistakes  and  not  from  yours." 

Why  has  there  been  a  break  between  the  educated  (intelli- 
gentsia) and  the  great  masses  of  Russia? 

Because  the  attitude  of  the  educated  was,  "Let  the  people 
rule,  but  let  them  rule  through  us."  But  the  people  of  Russia 
said,  "We  want  to  rule  ourselves  and  in  our  own  way."  How- 
ever, the  educated  are  now  working  for  the  Soviet.  For  the 
first  time  the  working  class  is  buying  brains  quite  as  the 
capitalist  class  has  done  before. 

V 

Did  not  the  Soviets  dissolve  the  Constituent  Assembly  of 
Russia  that  met  a  year  ago? 

They  did  because  it  was  the  only  thing  that  could  save  Russia 
and  the  Revolution.  Nearly  all  observers  who  were  on  the  spot 
agree  to  this.  The  Constituent  Assembly  was  elected  under  rules 
laid  down  by  the  government  of  Kerensky,  and  was  a  relic  of  the 
political  revolution  in  Russia.    It  was  really  dissolved  on  that 

18 


November  day  when  the  government  which  created  it  evaporated 
like  a  pricked  balloon.  The  Bolsheviki  claimed  it  was  not  repre- 
sentative of  the  Russian  masses.  Their  claim  seems  to  have  beem 
upheld  by  the  people  themselves. 

VI 

Did  not  the  Soviet  Government  make  peace  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government? 

It  did  because  the  old  soldier  army  recruited  under  the  Czar 
refused  to  fight  any  longer.  The  soldiers  said  they  had  enough 
of  fighting  without  food  or  clothes  and  that  they  had  nothing 
to  fight  for.  The  Russian  working-men  sent  an  appeal  to  the 
German  working-men  not  to  advance  upon  the  soil  of  the  New 
Russian  republic.  To  their  eternal  honor,  thousands  of  German 
working-men  soldiers  refused  to  advance.  They  were  shot  by 
their  officers,  and  the  main  German  Imperial  Army  marched  on 
against  Moscow  and  Petrograd.  The  Germans  said  they  would 
not  stop  until  the  Soviet  signed  the  Brest-Litovsk  peace.  There 
was  no  other  way  out.  Lenin  said,  that  it  was  "a  shameful" 
peace,  a  "robber's"  peace,  a  "cut-throat"  peace,  but  the  Soviet 
Government  had  to  sign.  The  Russian  workmen  then  said,  "The 
old  army  has  gone ;  now  we  shall  build  up  a  new  Red  Army. 
Meantime  we  shall  try  to  make  a  revolution  in  Germany.  If 
that  does  not  come  in  six  months  or  a  year,  then  we  shall  turn 
our  Red  Army  against  the  Germans."  Slowly  they  built  up  a 
new,  strong  Red  Army,  but  before  they  could  use  it,  the  revolu- 
tion came  in  Germany. 

THE  SOVIET  LEADERS  AND  THE  BOLSHEVIK  PARTY 

Whom  have  the  working  men  of  Russia  elected  as  President, 
or  Premier  of  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars? 

Nicholas  Lenin  (Vladimir  Hitch  UlianofT). 

Lenin  is  forty-eight  years  of  age.  He  was  born  of  a  noble 
family.  When  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age  his  brother  was 
hanged  for  plotting  to  kill  the  Czar.  He  was  expelled  from  the 
lav/  school  for  preaching  Socialism.  Later  we  find  him  in  Siberia 
charged  with  founding  the  Union  for  the  Struggle  to  Liberate 
the  Artisan  Class,  then  as  student  in  Paris  learning  languages ; 
then  in  Switzerland  writing  books  on  politics  and  economics; 
later  again  in  London  as  the  "leader"  of  the  Bolshevik  Party. 


19 


When  the  Revolution  of  1905  began,  he  rushed  to  Petrograd  and 
two  years  he  labored  like  a  galley  slave,  writing,  speaking  and 
organizing.  The  outbreak  of  the  Great  War  caught  him  in 
Austria  trying  to  stir  the  workers  to  rebellion. 

In  April,  1917,  Lenin  hastened  home  and  was  given  a  great 
ovation  as  his  train  pulled  into  Petrograd.  He  looked  the  field 
over  and  then  told  the  workingmen  and  soldiers :  "You  made  this 
Revolution,  and  it  belongs  to  you.  Do  not  let  the  usurpers  keep 
it  away  from  you;  take  the  power  in  your  own  hands."  After 
the  bourgeois  showed  they  could  not  run  the  government  of 
Russia,  the  workers,  soldiers  and  peasants  took  Lenin's  advice 
and  took  the  government  in  their  own  hands.  They  made  Lenin 
their  Premier  and  have  kept  him  on  the  job  ever  since. 

Lenin  is  probably  the  most  hated  and  the  most  loved  man  in 
Europe.  The  love  for  him  comes  from  the  great  masses  of  the 
people ;  the  hate  for  him  comes  from  the  old  crowd  of  nobles, 
landlords  and  capitalists.  A  dozen  times  with  dagger  and  bomb 
and  pistol  they  have  tried  to  kill  him ;  twice  indeed  the  assassin's 
bullet  entered  his  body.  But  he  still  lives  to  smile  and  preach 
his  gospel  of  revolution  and  of  work.  He  works  hard,  himself, — 
eighteen  hours  a  day.  Out  of  this  work  there  will  come  for 
the  masses  a  new  society  when  the  toilers  need  work  but  six 
hours  or  three  hours  a  day.  The  rest  he  can  give  to  his  mind,  to 
music  and  to  travel.  Lenin  believes  this  is  coming  and  coming 
soon. 

When  Lenin's  death  was  reported  in  this  country,  on  Septem- 
ber 2,  1918,  the  "New  York  Times"  wrote : 

"An  American  .  .  .  who  had  rare  opportunities  of 
studying  Lenin  at  close  range,  in  the  midst  of  the  Russian 
turmoil,  described  him  as  'the  greatest  living  statesman 
in  Europe.'" 

".  .  .  He  endeavored  to  put  into  practice  theories 
which  he  had  been  preaching  for  many  years  before  the 
Russian  Revolution  came  to  pass.  In  those  years  he  con- 
ceived and  worked  out  in  his  mind  a  principle  of  social 
revolution  which  distinguished  him  from  other  Socialist 
thinkers  by  his  uncompromising  appeal  to  the  spirit  of 
class  revolt. 

"This  spirit  as  an  indispensable  weapon  in  the  con- 
struction of  an  ideal  Socialist  state  he  preached  with  in- 
creasing fervor  as  years  went  by,  supplementing  .  .  . 
it  with  something  that  was  essentially  lacking  in  the 
Marxian  doctrine,  namely,  a  political  design  under  which 
the  economic  aims  of  a  thorough-going  Socialism  might 


20 


be  put  in  effect.  This  political  design  found  its  expres- 
sion, so  far  as  it  has  gone,  in  the  present  Soviet  govern- 
ment." 

Whom  have  the  workingmen  of  Russia  elected  as  the  Commis- 
sar of  War  to  defend  them  against  enemies? 

Leon  Trotzky  (Bronstein). 

In  1900  we  find  Trotzky  in  solitary  confinement  in  the  prisons 
of  Odessa.  The  charge  against  him  was  that  he  had  called  a 
meeting  out  in  the  woods  to  organize  a  laborers'  union.  When 
his  term  was  up  he  did  it  again.  Then  they  exiled  him  to  Siberia ; 
twice  he  escaped,  one  time  driving  a  reindeer  500  miles  across 
the  Arctic  snows.  As  a  war  correspondent  in  the  Balkans,  he 
showed  the  atrocities  on  both  sides.   Olgin  says  of  him : 

"His  house  in  Vienna  was  a  poor  man's  house — poorer 
than  that  of  an  American  workingman  earning  $18  a  week, 
and  containing  less  furniture  than  was  necessary  for  com- 
fort. Trotzky  has  been  poor  all  his  life."  But  his  spirit 
has  always  been  rich,  blazing  hot.  He  never  lost  heart, 
even  though  he  was  hounded  from  one  country  to  another 
by  the  Russian  Secret  Police.  He  came  to  New  York  in 
1916,  but  when  the  Revolution  broke  out  he  started  home. 
The  British  held  him  up  at  Halifax,  but  at  last  he  arrived 
in  Petrograd  to  be  greeted  with  great  joy  by  the  work- 
ingmen ;  they  finally  made  him  the  President  of  their 
great  Soviet,  of  the  Red  Commune. 

Trotzky  saw  that  the  old  Russian  army  was  throwing  down  its 
guns  and  running  away  from  the  trenches.  So  he  said :  "This  old 
army  will  not  fight.  We  must  have  a  new  army — a  Red  army ; 
meantime  we  must  have  peace."  He  went  to  Brest-Litovsk 
and  told  the  German  generals  to  their  faces  that  they  were 
robbers  and  cut-throats  and  Imperialists.  He  said,  "With  the 
sword  you  are  writing  upon  the  bodies  of  living  nations.  You 
make  us  sign  this  peace  at  the  bayonets  point,  but  some  day  you 
will  fall  either  by  our  Red  Army,  or  from  Revolution  within 
your  own  country." 

Trotzky  was  right.  Almost  always  he  has  been  right. 

"Besides  ...  do  you  imagine  that  capitalist  control 
is  going  to  survive  everywhere  save  in  Russia?  In  all  the 
warring  countries  of  Europe  I  expect  to  see  social  revo- 
lution after  the  war.  So  long  as  they  remain  in  the 
trenches  the  soldiers  think  of  little  but  their  immediate 
problem — to  kill  your  opponent  before  he  kills  you.  But 
when  they  go  home  and  find  their  families  scattered, 


21 


perhaps  their  homes  desolate,  their  industry  ruined,  and 
their  taxes  five  times  as  high  as  before,  they  will  begin  to 
consider  how  this  awful  calamity  was  brought  upon  them. 
They  will  be  open  to  the  demonstration  that  the  scramble 
of  capitalists  and  groups  of  capitalists  for  foreign  mar- 
kets and  exploitable  'colonial'  areas,  imperialism,  secret 
diplomacy,  and  armament  rivalry  promoted  by  munition 
makers,  brought  on  the  war.  Only  they  see  that  the 
capitalist  class  is  responsible  for  this  terrible  disaster 
to  humanity,  they  will  arise  and  wrest  the  control  from 
its  hands.  To  be  sure,  a  proletarian  Russia  cannot  get 
very  far  in  realizing  its  aims  if  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
remains  under  the  capitalist  regime.  But  that  will  not 
happen." 

Who  have  the  workingmen  chosen  to  be  Commissar  of  Edu- 
cation? 

M.  Lunacharsky. 

Lunacharsky  is  one  of  the  noted  writers  and  scholars  of  Rus- 
sia. "Our  first  aim  is  to  struggle  against  darkness,"  he  said. 
"The  expenditure  on  education  must  stay  high.  A  generous  bud- 
get for  public  instruction  is  the  honor  and  glory  of  every  peo- 
ple." Now  every  child  in  Russia  attends  public  school.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  upper  classes  must  attend  the  same  schools  as  those 
of  the  workers,  for  all  private  schools  have  been  abolished. 

One  of  Lunacharsky's  aids  in  the  educational  work  is  Maxim 
Gorky,  one  of  the  greatest  of  Russian  writers.  Gorky  has  been 
against  the  Bolsheviks  but  lately  he  has  joined  them. 

Whom  did  the  workingmen  elect  as  Commissar  of  Public 
Security? 

Alexandra  Kollontay,  a  woman,  who,  among  other  great  works 
in  behalf  of  the  masses,  established  the  Palace  of  Motherhood. 
Kollontay  is  one  of  the  leading  sociologists  in  Russia,  and  has 
written  many  books  on  mothers  and  children. 

At  one  time  Kollontay  called  a  meeting  of  all  workers 
in  her  department,  even  the  servants. 

"She  was  very  frank  with  them  at  this  meeting.  Russia, 
she  explained,  was  bankrupt;  there  were  little  funds  to 
carry  on  charitable  work;  no  one  was  to  receive  even  a 
'good'  salary;  she  herself  was  to  get  $60  a  month,  which 
is  the  salary  of  every  commissar. 

"This  came  as  a  great  blow  to  the  professional  social 
workers,  who  up  to  this  time  had  received  as  much  as 
$10,000  a  year.  Kollontay  shocked  them  even  more  by  an- 
nouncing that  thereafter  all  employees  should  continue 


22 


to  be  present  at  meetings,  and  that  the  same  considera- 
tion would  be  given  to  suggestions  from  scrub-women  as 
from  professional  philanthropists." 

"I  used  to  go  up  to  Kollontay's  office  on  the  Kazanskaya 
and  she  explained  many  of  her  problems  to  me.  She  was 
very  much  moved  by  the  way  some  of  her  lower  em- 
ployees had  responded  to  her  appeal  in  this  crisis.  It 
really  was  astonishing  how  much  many  of  these  simple 
and  uneducated  old  servants  understood  about  the  work. 
And  when  they  once  realized  that  they  were  a  part  of 
the  larger  plan  they  gladly  worked  for  sixteen  hours  a 
day  to  help  Kollontay,  whom  they  all  called  'Little  Com- 
rade'."— Louise  Bryant,  "Six  Red  Months  in  Russia." 

Whom  have  the  working  class  of  Russia  chosen  as  Commissar 
of  Foreign  Affairs  (State  Department)? 

George  Tschitcherin.  He  came  from  an  old  line  of  diplomats 
in  Russia.  Disgusted  with  the  lying  and  stealing  of  the  old  order, 
he  resigned  his  position  in  the  London  Embassy  and  joined  the 
Bolsheviks. 

Can  these  men  be  dismissed  from  their  positions? 

At  any  time  the  Executive  Committee  may  recall  them. 

"While  the  Bolshevik  control  of  the  Soviet  organization 
has  not  been  impaired  since  the  formation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, the  form  of  the  Government  is  such  that  this 
control  may  be  changed  whenever  the  peasants  and  work- 
men desire  a  change." — Major  Thatcher. 

To  what  party  does  Lenin,  Trotzky,  Lunacharsky,  Kollontay 
and  Tschitcherin  belong? 

They  belong  to  the  Communist  Party,  popularly  known  as 
Bolshevik. 

What  does  the  word  "Bolshevik"  mean? 

The  word  "Bolshevik"  is  the  Russian  word  for  "one  of  the 
majority,"  as  opposed  to  and  distinguished  from  the  word  "Men- 
shevik,"  or  "minority."  It  is  a  party  which  now  has  the  majority 
of  delegates  of  the  workers  on  its  side,  and  consequently  the 
majority  of  the  delegates  in  the  Soviets.  It  has  changed  its  name 
at  the  present  time  to  Communist  Party.  It  must  be  clearly  kept 
in  mind  that  the  Bolsheviks,  though  composing  the  main  party 
in  the  Soviets,  are  only  one  among  several  parties  there. 

Are  the  Bolsheviks  intelligent  people? 

The  more  educated  a  workingman  is,  the  more  likely  he  is  to 
be  a  Bolshevik.    The  sailors  and  the  Lettish  folk  in  Russia  are 


23 


the  most  literate  people  in  Russia.  Nearly  all  of  them  can  read 
and  write,  and  nearly  all  of  them  are  Bolsheviks. 

Why  did  the  working  class  of  Russia  select  the  Bolsheviks 
for  leaders  instead  of  others? 

Other  political  parties  have  had  eloquent  and  sincere  men,  but 
they  only  talked  about  giving  the  people  what  they  wanted — 
land,  peace  and  factories.  The  Bolsheviks  really  gave  these 
things  to  the  people. 

Why  did  not  the  people  choose  Breshkovskaya,  Tschaikovsky 
and  Kropotkin,  such  well-known  revolutionists? 

These  leaders  are  more  than  seventy  years  of  age.  They  were 
great,  noble  spirits,  but  they  have  lost  touch  with  the  masses — 
they  are  leaders  of  the  past.  Most  of  the  Bolshevik  leaders  are 
young  men.  Four  out  of  every  five  in  the  Soviet  are  under 
thirty-five  years  of  age.  They  are  the  leaders  of  the  present 
and  the  future. 

Why  do  the  Russian  people  continue  to  keep  the  Bolsheviks 
in  office? 

(a)  Because  they  have  proved  able  and  good  leaders  who  did 
what  the  people  wanted,  (b)  Because  most  of  the  Bolshevik 
leaders  came  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  people,  themselves,  and 
understand  the  people's  ideas  and  speak  the  people's  language, 
(c)  Because  the  capitalists  and  the  rich  have  called  them  "mur- 
derers and  German  agents."  The  people  know  that  these  are  lies 
and  that  the  Bolshevik  leaders  are  the  most  honest  and  the  most 
sacrificing  men  in  the  world.  | 

"I  do  not  claim  that  the  Bolsheviks  are  angels.  These 
men  who  have  made  the  Soviet  government  in  Russia,  if 
they  must  fail,  will  fail  with  clean  shield  and  clean  hearts, 
having  striven  for  an  ideal  which  will  live  beyond  them. 
Even  if  they  fail,  they  will  none  the  less  have  written 
a  page  of  history  more  daring  than  any  other  which  I 
can  remember  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  They  are 
writing  it  amid  showers  of  mud  from  all  the  meaner 
spirits  in  their  country,  in  yours  and  in  my  own.  But, 
when  the  thing  is  over,  the  mud  will  vanish  like  black 
magic  at  noon,  and  that  page  will  be  as  white  as  the 
snows  of  Russia,  and  the  writing  on  it  as  bright  as  the 
gold  domes  that  I  used  to  see  glittering  in  the  sun  as  I 
looked  from  my  windows  in  Petrograd. 

"And  when  in  after  years  men  read  that  page  they  will 
judge  your  country  and  mine,  your  race  and  mine,  by  the 
help  or  hindrance  they  gave  to  the  writing  of  it." — Arthur 


24 


Ransome,  Correspondent  of  the  London  Daily  News. 

"The  Bolsheviks  most  of  all  have  helped  to  make  the 
war  not  only  for  democracy,  but  a  war  at  last  of  democ- 
racy and  by  democracy.  The  Bolshevik  revolution  is  the 
one  fertilizing  force  that  throughout  Europe  is  making 
governments  answerable  to  peoples." — Professor  Kallen, 
of  Wisconsin  University. 

THE  RUSSIANS  AND  AMERICA 

In  what  way  do  the  Russians  have  respect  for  America? 

They  have  great  respect  for  the  fine  products  of  our  industry, 
and  our  wonderful  machinery,  particularly  harvesters,  etc. 

Coming  out  of  Siberia,  a  little  Russian  about  seventeen 
years  of  age  came  on  the  train  carrying  a  gun  as  big  as 
himself.  He  was  a  Bolshevik,  going  out  to  fight  Semenoff, 
the  Cossack  general  who  wanted  to  destroy  the  Work- 
man's Republic.  When  he  found  that  we  were  Americans, 
he  was  wild  with  happiness.  'You,  see,  I  work  in  the  rail- 
road shops,'  he  said,  'and  I  like  engines  when  they  are  so 
full  of  steam  and  strong  and  ready  to  pull  the  big  trains 
out  on  the  track.  I  could  almost  kiss  them.  And  you 
Americans,  you  make  the  best  engines  in  the  world.  I 
almost  love  you  all.' 

What  things  in  America  are  there  that  Russians  do  not  like? 

They  do  not  like  our  blacklists  and  lockouts,  our  hired  thugs 
to  beat  up  strikers,  our  very  rich  living  in  palaces  and  our  very 
poor  living  in  slums.  They  do  not  like  the  way  America  treats 
men  like  Mooney  and  other  fighters  for  labor. 

"Nearly  all  regard  America  as  a  hopelessly  'capitalistic' 
society  and  expect  that  in  a  few  years  Russia  will  far 
surpass  America  in  the  realization  of  democracy." — Pro- 
fessor Ross,  of  Wisconsin  University. 

What  else  do  the  Russians  not  like  about  America? 

They  do  not  like  our  ignorance  about  the  great  world  move- 
ment of  Socialism;  they  look  upon  us  as  a  nation  of  political 
illiterates,  for  four  out  of  every  five  Russians  are  Socialists. 

"Nearly  everybody  in  Russia  was  a  Socialist,  the  only 
difference  being  in  degree  .  .  .  That  being  the  case, 
the  notion  continually  advanced  in  certain  British  and 
American  quarters  of  taking  by  the  hand  these  simple 
children  of  nature  and  leading  them  kindly  up  to  the 
primary  democratic  principles  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Lloyd  George  was  always  a  joke  .  .  .  Among  the  Rus- 
sians, evolution  had  long  passed  beyond  all  such  primitive 


25 


processes  and  democracy  means  industrial  democracy  as 
much  as  it  means  the  right  to  vote,  and  industrial  democ- 
racy means  the  division  of  the  products  of  industry 
among  those  whose  toil  had  created  such  products. 

"In  other  words,  it  meant  the  practical  elimination  of 
dividends  and  interest  and  with  this,  it  was  hoped,  there 
would  be  an  end  of  want  on  one  side  and  luxury  on  the 
other. 

"For  some  reason  never  well  explained,  it  was  always 
extremely  difficult  to  get  in  America  any  recognition  of 
these  facts." — Charles  Edward  Russell,  "Unchained 
Russia." 

What  is  the  root  of  the  trouble  between  America  and  Russia? 

It  is  this  misunderstanding.  Americans  think  that  the  Amer- 
ican government  is  about  the  best  there  is  in  the  world,  and  that 
Russia  ought  to  have  a  government  and  a  society  like  America's. 
The  Russians  do  not  think  so.  They  want  one  of  their  own,  a 
Soviet,  a  great,  new  experiment  in  democracy. 

But  have  the  Russians  education  enough  to  govern  themselves? 

While  fully  60  per  cent,  of  them  cannot  read  or  write,  on  the 
other  hand  they  are  intelligent  people. 

Rodzianko,  the  ex-president  of  the  Duma,  told  me  that 
a  French  engineer  came  to  his  estate  to  set  up  an  engine 
for  his  sawmill.  He  worked  for  three  days,  but  the 
engine  would  not  go.  Then  one  of  his  old  peasants  who 
had  been  looking  on  said,  "Let  me  try  to  put  it  together. 
Within  five  minutes  the  engine  was  set  up  and  running 
perfectly. 

That,  to  Rodzianko,  was  an  example  of  the  native  soil-wisdom 
of  the  masses.  They  are  not  learned  in  books,  but  they  are 
learned  in  life.  With  the  same  sort  of  minds,  not  twisted  by 
tradition  or  warped  by  prejudice  they  look  at  all  questions. 

Do  the  Russians  understand  the  great  social  and  business  prob- 
lems enough  to  organize  a  great,  new  society? 

The  average  Russian  workman  far  better  understands  all  eco- 
nomic and  social  questions  than  does  the  average  so-called  edu- 
cated American.  The  workingmen  and  peasants  of  Russia  read 
or  have  read  to  them  tens  of  thousands  of  papers  and  pamphlets. 
These  papers  and  pamphlets  are  not  like  the  cheap,  sensational 
sheets  of  America,  but  are  solid,  strong  journals.  America  has 
sent  over  hundreds  of  men  to  "educate"  the  Russian  working- 
men,  but  the  average  Russian  workman  knows  twice  as  much 


26 


about  the  great  social  problems  as  these  men  who  are  sent  to 
"educate"  them. 

"How  came  so  much  of  the  mass  of  Russian  people, 
viewed  by  all  the  truly  learned  as  ignorant  and  stupid,  to 
seize  upon  a  social  philosophy  so  new  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  so  far  in  advance  of  it?  .  .  .  The  'inferior' 
Russian  .  .  .  lays  hold  upon  this  new  conception 
which  is  .  .  .  not  simple,  not  rudimentary,  but  advo- 
cated in  many  volumes  by  ponderous  thinkers  practically 
unknown  to  our  superior  world.  Here,  it  seems  to  me, 
is  a  wonder  both  historic  and  suggestive." — "Unchained 
Russia." 

But  why  debate  about  the  Russian's  ability  to  organize  a  gov- 
ernment? Why  not  face  the  fact  that  they  DID  ORGANIZE 
A  GREAT,  NEW  GOVERNMENT— THE  SOVIET.* 

Did  the  Soviet  Government  ask  for  he!p  from  America? 

They  asked  for  help  and  were  willing  to  give  America  conces- 
sions in  return. 

"On  numerous  occasions  the  American  Red  Cross  was 
asked  to  actively  co-operate  in  various  departments  of 
the  Soviet  Government,  including  a  suggestion  that  the 
American  Red  Cross  take  charge  of  the  entire  food 
administration  in  Petrograd ;  that  it  take  charge  of  ship- 
ments of  food  from  Siberia  and  that  it  handle  the  pur- 
chase of  supplies  for  the  Soviet  Government  in  China, 
and  handle  the  shipments  of  these  supplies  through  Si- 
beria. The  Soviet  Government  desires  the  assistance  of 
the  Allies  in  organizing  a  revolutionary  volunteer  army 
with  which  to  oppose  German  domination.  Nothing 
whatever  can  be  done  by  the  Allies  except  in  co-operation 
with  this  (Soviet)  Government." — Report  of  Major 
Thomas  D.  Thacher  of  the  American  Red  Cross  Mission 
in  Russia. 

Did  the  Soviets,  believe  they  were  going  to  get  help  from 
America? 

They  did.  Because  President  Wilson  said  "We  are  fighting 
for  the  liberty  and  self-government  and  the  undictated  develop- 
ment of  all  people."  And  he  sent  a  message  to  the  Russian  peo- 
ple through  the  great  All-Russian  Soviet,  promising  help  to 
Russia. 

Did  the  leaders  of  the  Soviet  believe  in  the  assurances  of  help 
that  President  Wilson  promised? 

Many  were  skeptical  about  it  all,  but  most  of  the  masses  of 
Russia  believed  that  the  heart  of  the  great  American  people 
sympathized  with  them. 


27 


When  the  Soviet  in  Vladivostok  was  overturned  by  the 
Czecho-Slovaks,  the  gruzshchiki  (longshoremen)  rushed 
to  the  defense  of  the  Red  Staff  Building.  There  were 
only  200  of  them  and  they  were  surrounded  by  20,000 
English,  Japanese  and  Czecho-Slovaks,  but  they  refused 
to  surrender  until  the  building  was  fired  by  an  incendiary 
bomb.  The  workingmen  of  Vladivostok  gathered  up  the 
corpses  of  their  dead  and  made  rough  coffins  for  them, 
painting  them  red.  On  July  4th,  17,000  of  these  workers 
streamed  through  the  streets  in  a  funeral  procession. 
Their  Soviets  had  been  destroyed,  their  comrades  had 
been  killed,  the  Government  that  they  had  held  had  been 
wrested  from  their  grasp.  All  around  them  were  the 
guns  and  battleships  of  their  enemies.  Their  hearts  were 
heavy  with  grief  and  bitterness. 

A  sailor,  hailing  them,  suddenly  cried  out:  "Comrades! 
Comrades!  We  are  not  alone.  We  are  not  alone!  I  ask 
you  to  look  away  to  the  flags  flying  over  thete  on  the 
American  battleship  Brooklyn.  And  with  the  flags  of  all 
nations  there  is  the  red  flag  of  our  Russian  Republic.  No, 
comrades,  we  are  not  alone  today  in  our  grief.  The 
Americans  understand,  and  they  are  with  us !" 

It  was  a  mistake,  of  course.  Those  flags  had  been  hung 
out  in  celebration  of  the  Day  of  our  Independence.  But 
these  workers  did  not  know  that.  To  them  it  was  like  a 
sudden  touch  of  a  friend's  hand  upon  a  lonely  traveler  in 
a  foreign  land.  With  a  cry  they  caught  up  the  shout  of 
the  sailor:  "The  Americans  are  with  us!"  And  the  vast 
gathering,  lifting  up  their  coffins,  wreaths  and  banners, 
were  again  in  motion.  Tired  as  they  were  from  long 
standing  in  the  sun,  they  made  a  wide  detour  to  reach 
the  street  that  runs  up  the  steep  hill  to  the  American 
Consulate.  Straight  up  the  sharp  slope  they  toiled  in  a 
cloud  of  dust,  still  singing  as  they  marched,  until  they 
came  before  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating  from  the  flag- 
staff. There  they  stopped  and  laid  the  coffins  of  their 
dead  beneath  the  flag  of  the  great  Western  democracy. 

They  stretched  out  their  hands,  crying,  "Speak  to  us  a 
word!"  They  sent  delegates  within  to  implore  that  word. 
On  the  day  the  great  republic  of  the  West  celebrated  its 
independence  the  poor  and  disinherited  of  Russia  came 
asking  for  sympathy  and  understanding  in  the  struggle 
for  their  independence.  In  the  hour  of  their  affliction 
these  simple,  trusting  folk,  makers  of  the  new  democracy 
of  the  East,  came  stretching  forth  their  hands  to  the 
great,  strong  democracy  of  the  West. 

They  knew  that  President  Wilson  had  given  assur- 
ance of  help  and  loyalty  to  the  "people  of  Russia."  They 
reasoned :  "We,  the  workers  and  the  peasants,  the  vast 
majority  here  in  Vladivostok,  are  we  not  the  people? 


28 


Today  in  our  trouble  we  come  to  claim  the  promised 
help.  They  came,  bringing  their  dead  with  the  faith 
that  out  of  America  would  come  compassion  and  under- 
standing.  America,  their  only  friend  and  refuge. 

But  America  did  not  understand.  The  American  people 
did  not  even  hear  about  it.  But  these  Russian  folk  did 
not  know  that  the  American  people  never  heard  about  it. 
All  they  know  is  that  a  few  weeks  after  that  appeal  came 
the  landing  of  the  American  troops. 

And  now  they  say  to  one  another:  "How  stupid  we  were 
to  stand  there  in  the  heat  and  dust  stretching  out  our 
hands  like  beggars !" 

What  is  supposed  to  be  the  purpose  of  intervention? 

To  bring  order  into  the  country  and  a  firm,  stable  government. 

What  has  intervention  accomplished  in  Russia? 

(1)  It  has  overturned  the  government  of  the  Soviets  in  Siberia, 
which  rested  on  the  peasants  and  workers,  and  in  its  stead  gave 
support  to  the  Omsk  Government,  which  is  a  government  of  the 
Cossack  generals,  monarchists  and  landlords  and  a  few  old  social 
revolutionists.  (2)  It  has  brought  anarchy,  assassination  and 
hunger  to  the  great  masses  of  workmen  and  peasants.  The  Sov- 
iet at  Vladivostok  was  established  without  killing  a  single  human 
being;  but  to  overthrow  the  Soviets  for  150  miles  thousands  of 
peasants  and  workers  were  killed  and  wounded,  all  the  battle- 
ships, hospitals  and  warehouses  around  Vladivostok  were  filled 
with  these  victims  of  intervention.  (3)  It  has  cut  off  the  great 
cities  of  Moscow  and  Petrograd  from  the  grain  supply  of  Siberia. 
(4)  It  is  turning  the  natural  love  of  the  Russians  for  America 
into  hatred  for  her. 


Russia  says  to  the  workers  and  to  the  right-minded 
people  of  the  whole  world: 

"Come  with  us  toward  the  new  life,  whose  creation  we  work 
for  without  sparing  ourselves  and  without  sparing  anybody  or 
anything!  Erring  and  suffering  in  the  great  joy  of  labor  and  in 
the  burning  hope  of  progress,  we  leave  to  the  honest  judgment  of 
history  all  our  deeds.  Come  with  us  to  the  battle  against  the 
ancient  order,  to  work  for  new  forms  of  life!  Forth  to  life's 
freedom  and  beauty !" — Maxim  Gorky. 


29 


IHE  purpose  of  this  book  is  not  to  claim  that  the 


X  Russian  people  have  already  established  a 
Utopia  or  even  a  pure  democracy.  But  it  does  prove 
by  the  convincing  testimony  of  those  who  have  seen 
and  who  know  that  these  people  are  makingf  the 
bravest  and  most  successful  of  all  the  age-long 
struggles  for  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people. 

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tions of  immediate  importance  as  to  which  the 
public  is  liable  to  be  misinformed,  either  wilfully 
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It  therefore  appeals  to  all  concerned  in  the 
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